This description relates to presenting online resources to users, and more particularly, to network-based methods and systems for determining a state of travel for a user, and providing online resource items to the user based on the determined user state, wherein the user state indicates at least whether the user is traveling within the user's typical travel pattern, or the user is traveling outside of the user's typical travel pattern.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. Resource items accessible through the Internet include, but are not limited to, image files, video files, audio files and web pages (also collectively referred to as “publications”). The providers of publications are referred to as “publishers.” In some situations, access to these resources presents opportunities for presentation of additional resource items (“content” or “online content”) from third-party content providers. For example, a web page published by a particular publisher may include content item slots in which content items from other content providers, such as presentations of items for download or purchase, may be presented with the publisher's content.
It is in the interest of both publishers and content providers to provide resources that are generally responsive to a query from a user device, and to provide resources that are specifically relevant to a user with respect to the user's circumstances at the point in time that the query is received. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide resources to a user that are relevant to the user state, wherein the user state involves considerations such as the location of the user at the point in time at which the query is received, and the purpose or reason that causes the user to be at the particular location at the specific point in time.